Samuel George @sxg4044 - Tumblr Blog

Overview of NYC

Well. We’re all home now, and after a week of reflections I finally feel ready to write about this experience. I still feel very overwhelmed by all of the information that was presented to me by the 13 organizations we visited, and even more overwhelmed by the fact that I now need to make decisions on my own career path.

The people that really stood out to me are Dave Burnett , Brad Smith, Olivier Laurent, and Marguerite Schropp. We met Dave Burnett and Brad Smith at Reuters, Olivier Laurent at TIME, and Marguerite Schropp at Sports Illustrated. Dave Burnett spoke to us about his experience shooting many olympics, and his time shooting at the Rio olympics this past summer. I enjoyed that he uses gear such as a Speed Graphix and a camera with the IR filter removed to produce his images, as I also enjoy using methods other than traditional digital photography. Brad Smith spoke to us on the fact that he was newly a freelance editor, and in general was just a overwhelmingly entertaining person. His newfound goal of never having to tuck his shirt in really resonated with me, especially after this week in New York City. The next person who spoke to us was Olivier Laurent, editor of TIME's lightbox, and he spoke on some of the hardships of being an editor. One of those being how difficult it is seeing a piece that would work great for a more international audience, but since TIME's lightbox is a mostly American audience, those same works may not work as well. He also emphasized timing to us, giving us the example of an Easter story, and how it worked that the photographer had waited until the following Easter holiday to present the story to him. The final person we spoke to was Marguerite Schropp, director of photography at Sports Illustrated. Although we didn't have a lot of time to speak with her, she gave us really helpful advise including what Sports Illustrated looks for in its interns. Marguerite said they prefer interns who are more like sponges, not people who are already set in their ways, and that their internships are more on the photo editing side of things rather than the shooting side.

I really loved this experience of having a week immersed in all this. I, unlike many of my classmates, would love to end up in New York after school is over, and am looking for the many opportunities that can present themselves to me in the future. While I am no longer sure in my choice of major, this trip really helped me learn more about the different options available to me no matter what.

#nyc #ritpj #ritpj2018

NYC Day Five

Blue Chalk – 10:00

We started our fifth and final day in New York City with Blue Chalk Media in Brooklyn. Meeting with Pam Dulling, Chief Operating Officer, and Ruth Aravena, their Social Media Manager & Production Assistant, in person, as well as Greg Moyer and Rob Finch via Skype, we learned many things during our time in their office. Greg Moyer, the CEO, skyped in from Denver, CO after flying there from France. He talked about how Blue Chalk will be delivering 55 more films by the end of the year, producing roughly 120 films for the year. He mentioned how six of these films alone were for Time magazine. Greg also talked about how the industry standard will soon be moving to 4K capture and broadcast, and with that the industry will also be moving towards more cloud storage solutions due to the pricing and speed compared to physical storage. Greg also talked to us about how we do not need to be great in the field shooting or great at editing, if we are great with people and finding stories, we can always be a producer. His final talking point was that we should all put extra time into the pre-production phase of things, as the pre-interviews usually mitigates a lot of issues people have later in production. Next, we had Rob Finch, the creative director, Skype in from Portland, OR. He oversees their Portland office, managing between six and eight people. Rob mentioned how all of their video goes through the Portland office to be edited. He mentioned to us about how there are all sorts of ways to do honest storytelling without it being strict journalism, and that we should be open to change, patient and always listening. Rob left us with the point of you cannot buy your way into authentic human stories. Next, Pam Dulling, the COO, gave us a tour of their building. They use a solution called Green Desk, where they have rented office space on a month-to-month basis, which is perfect for start-ups like Blue Chalk. She also mentioned about how even though a lot of their work could be done from home offices, having a hub has tremendous value because with their open layout office they can easily share ideas. We made our way back to the conference room, and Pam gave us more information on Blue Chalk. Blue Chalk’s sweet spot in the non-fiction continuum is education, documentary, social impact and branded content. With Education they are working with Pearson Education to produce chapter videos based on their textbooks, and have produced 20-30 videos so far. Within documentary, they work on hour to hour-and-a-half long videos for film festivals. For branded content, they work with CNBC, Time, and The Weather Channel to produce videos for them. Pam left us with the notion of we should not fight our nature, we should go wherever our personalities fit.

Carrot Creative – 12:30

Our second and final visit of the day was to Carrot Creative, a Vice company. Here we met with Austen Williams, Juliette Richey, Tyler Pierce, Liz Stallmeyer and Harun Zankal. We started off our meeting with Austen Williams, senior producer. She talked about how there they consider themselves “integrated producers” because of the fact that they are also really project managers, creative producers, line producers and digital producers. She also considers the producers to be “creative problem solvers”, and being the first line of defense for their teams. Next we listened to Juliette Richey, director of content and leader of Carrot Studio, which she helped launch in 2015. We learned from Juliette that they used to outsource all of their studio work until she fought to get them their own studio space. Now they also host two in-house retouchers, which is helpful as they can grab them as a shoot is happening to get their inputs. We finally heard from Harun Zankal, a creative director for Carrot, and he talked about he worked from having a terrible design background into having all of his knowledge he has now by basically self-teaching. He took on every extra design project he could during college to build his, albeit terrible at the time, design portfolio. He told us to work outside of work to better ourselves, and to make connections to advance our careers. His final note to us was that we should always be doing side projects.

Overview

This week long experience has me sad to see it end. I have always loved the hustle of the city, and after really living it for a week, I’m sad to see it leave. This trip has really opened my horizons as to what I can do in my future career using my background in photojournalism, and for once actually has me genuinely excited for what is to come...

NYC Day Four

Time - 11:00

This morning started with Time magazine, meeting with Myles Little, a senior photo editor at the magazine, and Olivier Laurent, photo editor for Time’s photography blog, Lightbox. Myles Little mentioned to us that when he is handed an assignment, the first thing he does is brainstorm and think of different artists that might work well for the assignment. Going off this, he mentioned that we should all find our niche, and to make sure our name means what we want it to when mentioned. This meaning that when someone’s name is said, a short list of topics should come to mind. Myles also commented on the fact that the cover of a magazine is essentially another advertisement meant to grab the audience's attention, tell them what the magazine is about, and furthermore get them to purchase that magazine. Myles also mentioned that we should not be afraid to supplement our work with means other than photography. Some examples he gave us were bartending, construction, and childcare. After Myles spoke to us, Olivier Laurent spoke to us about being a photo editor and editing for Time’s Lightbox. He said that frequently he has to turn down certain stories that while they could easily be run for an international audience, an American audience would be completely against, and he used the example of a woman’s nipple or breastfeeding. He also uses action words such as “Go Inside” in his headlines to get people to click the links. Olivier mentioned timing, and reminding us whether this was the correct time to publish something. He said that he had no interest in a story that was relevant days ago, and that photographers in that situation should wait for it to come around again for proposing, using the example of holidays such as Easter.

Sports Illustrated – 13:00

After meeting with Time magazine, we headed down the hall to Sports Illustrated to meet with Marguerite Schropp, director of photography. Marguerite mentioned how she only had ever worked at Sports Illustrated, starting as a summer intern in 1992. She talked to us briefly on how we should never loose our passions, and keep following our dreams. She also mentioned how there are nine photo editors, each specialized in specific sports. Marguerite also introduced us to their photography internship and what they look for in their interns. She said she loves students who come in like a sponge, ready to absorb as much information as they can, and that their internships are more on the photo editing side of things rather than shooting. Marguerite then passed the talk over to Eric Rasco, director of photo operations, whos job entails managing workflows and events. He talked about how Sports Illustrated sometimes uses people who can only shoot action and sports, but usually go for people who can shoot that as well as portraiture. He also mentioned how he wants photographers that can pull the shots they need off in shitty locations, for instance, there were photographs at the Olympics that were done in terrible lighting and in tiny offices that are beautiful.

Bloomberg Photos / Bloomberg BusinessWeek – 15:00

We finally ended our day with Bloomberg Photos and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, meeting with Graham Morrison, Evan Ortiz, Natashia Brown, Clinton Cargill and Aeriel Brown. Graham started off the afternoon, and made many important comments. He mentioned to us how freelancing is incredibly hard, and that you have to hustle your ass off to make a living. Also, that there are a lot of different jobs in the photography business, and that everyone is a good photographer now, so we have to have something that differentiates ourselves. An example he used was to know some code, as if the webpage breaks, you can be the one to help fix it. We then spoke to Evan Ortiz, and Rochester Institute of Technology alum from the class of 2015. Evan currently works on Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Bloomberg Pursuits. His main piece of advise for us is to know where you are putting your time. Next was Natashia Brown, the global director of visual media content at Bloomberg. She emphasized that we should know what we want to do, and then do it, as to not get stuck in something we dislike. In regards as to how to keep good relationships with Bloomberg, she said overall with any company to just ask as far as conflicts go. She also mentioned that Bloomberg is always open to new talent, should they fit what Bloomberg looks for.

Overview

Day four has me even more confused as the path I would like to take, as this whole trip has, but I’m glad I have been exposed to all of these amazing workplaces to see all of my options.

NYC Day Three

New York Times - 14:00

This afternoon started with the New York Times, talking with James Estrin, the photo editor for LensBlog. He talked a lot about how in the past you had to solely be a photographer to make a living, but now you can be a photographer and something else, such as an educator, or coding websites. There are also a greater number of opportunities today, such as self-publishing, either online or in book form. In the past you would have had to take your book around places hoping that somebody would like it, and like you. Now you can just direct those same people online to view your work. James also said that the most successful people were those that were the hungriest, those that wanted it more than others. He said that we should all strive to do what excites us, as that excitement drives us to differentiate ourselves from other photographers. He also recommended that we have two major skills; One we are great at, and one we are good at, as now photographers are more likely to be hired as specialists, unlike in the past where you were more likely to be hired as a generalist. At this point, Rochester Institute of Technology alum, Heather Casey, popped in as we were beginning to talk about picture editing. Heather’s main piece of advise was to make your own fortune, and not to be passive about things. Both Heather and James commented on the fact that in breaking news situations, if the New York Times was physically there, they would usually beat the wire services to publishing an image due to the equipment they use. The final piece of advise we received from this pair was about our senior capstone projects, and that is that if you do the process right, the product will take care of itself.

Esquire - 16:00

After visiting the New York Times, we hustled over to Esquire to meet with Michael Norseng, director of photography. He opened with a piece of advise from his grandfather, which was that no one has a monopoly on truth. We should be accumulating our own knowledge for truth, and not letting others ideas of truth carve out our paths. Michael gave us tips on how to promote ourselves with examples of what other photographers do. These included new promo cards every few months, and sending those to people you have worked with in the past, or that you would like to work with. Also to do email blasts bi-annually (or more frequently!) as an update to have people keep you on their radar. Michael still prefers a printed promo, and equated it to his own record collection. He mentioned how other publishing companies have consolidated their photo editors, and pulled them away from working on only one publication. He’s also always happy to hear criticism, as long as it is done in a respectful manner, and he welcomes it from all members of his team.

Overview

Overall, today seemed to slow down a bit, however as we are visiting four places tomorrow, I’m certain it’ll pick up again. At this point, I’m as confused as ever about what I would like to do…

#nycpj #nyc #ritpj #RITPJ2018

NYC Day Two

CNN - 09:30

This morning kicked off with a visit to Twanda Scott Sambou at CNN. Twanda started out as a photojournalist, which at CNN means being on-call, ready to go at any time, and later decided to become a Digital Media Producer. She was an amazing host, having us meet many individuals here at CNN. Quentin Dunn was our first stop, and he explained to us the process of editing a video for broadcast. They typically only get one hour to edit for every one minute of video. At CNN, there are 25 staff editors, like Quentin, and five freelance editors. If a transcript is needed, they send it out to a transcription service, however they also can do it in house using producers and interns to get it done. As Quentin put it, “Interns make the world go round”. Next, we spoke to Bernadette “Bernie” Tuazon, the senior photo editor at CNN. Currently she is working on the 100 Most Important Images of Barack Obama’s presidency, as well as the upcoming presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Bernie said that stakes are higher in a place like CNN, since their images go directly out to their audience, unlike Associated Press where they send their images to their members, who then distribute it to the audiences. CNN also accepts any photographers pitch for stories, which then can be placed on their special features section.

Magnum Foundation - 12:30

After our visit at CNN, we ventured down to the Magnum Foundation to meet with Rochester Institute of Technology alum, Alexis Lambrou. Magnum Foundation was founded in 2007, and is a 501c3. We learned about many of their programs, including their Photography and Human Rights fellowship, where they invite six to seven non-western photographers to New York City for six weeks to create a photo essay on a local issue. Magnum Foundation also has a program exploring collaboration between artists of different mediums called Photography, Expanded. In the past, they have started with the photographer and then added on an additional contributor, such as a poet. However, this year is the first year that the photographers were expected to already have a contributor ready to go. The stories have always already been started, and this year all of the stories will be on religion.

Getty Images - 15:00

Our final stop of the day was at Getty Images, where we met with Hilary Markiewitz, Pierce Wright and Sandy Ciric. Both Hilary and Pierce are Rochester Institute of Technology alum, classes of ’14 and ’98 respectively. The editorial side of Getty Images, to my surprise, is split into three sort of groups; News, Entertainment and Sports. They also only have 11 staff photographers, but have a network of over 200 freelance photographers that they work with. Getty Images also has no writers, which was surprising to me, so photographers have to do more research on their own when learning about new subjects. They also gave us all some very good advice as far as freelancing is concerned. One piece of advice was that we should always have honest, good communication. They would rather someone just admit that they screwed up, rather than pretending that they will never find out.

Overview

Overall, today helped me start to narrow down the path I am looking to go towards. I now can say I’m not really interested in working with a wire service, however I’d like to explore a little bit more before I can say for certain.

#ritpj #ritpj2018 #nyc #pjnyc

NYC Day One

Associated Press - 09:00

We started off this morning with the Associated Press, sitting in on their morning staff meeting, and afterwards met with Santiago Lyon to talk about what the AP does. I was surprised to find out that a majority of what AP does is the United States sports imagery, and that they do not really have enough photographers pitching their own ideas for stories, rather, a photographer waits for a story to be assigned to them.

Human Rights Watch - 11:30

After visiting Associated Press, we walked five blocks over to Human Rights Watch, located inside the Empire State Building. Here we met with Emma Daly and Veronica Matushaj. I was surprised to learn that they publish between 80 and 100 reports each year, and while their reports can range between 10 and 200 pages, most are between 40 and 50 pages. They also distribute all of their content to the media for free, with the ability to also download things such as a dope sheet and a pre-captioned video. Here they really emphasized the fact that we should all learn a second language, as it helps to break down one barrier between you and your subjects.

Buzzfeed - 14:30

After a quick lunch break, we were back on the streets again walking up to Buzzfeed’s offices, where we met with Kate Bubacz, a Rochester Institute of Technology Photojournalism alumni. Here I learned that Buzzfeed uses Blink and LinkedIn to search for freelancers, so it’s best to keep those updated of where you currently are or where you are going. Kate also suggested, that at least for Buzzfeed, that we keep photo story pitches short, with main keywords right in the subject line so that it’s easier for her to search through them. Also, unlike most publications, Buzzfeed publishes between eight and ten images with their stories. Kate also suggested that when we write captions for an editor, that we write a short and sweet version first, then place a longer, meatier version just below that, so that the photo editor can choose which one they would like to use.

Reuters - 17:30

After another quick break, we were off to Times Square to visit the Thomson Reuters wire service. Here we met with Carlo Allegri, Mitch Koppelman, Hal Buell, Dave Burnett and Brad Smith. Each of these men had different points that they talked about, however, I was most surprised at Dave Burnett and Brad Smith. I was surprised to learn that Dave Burnett shot this past Olympic games with a Speed Graphix and a Canon 5D with the IR Filter removed, and even more surprised that he was a photographer for the International Olympic Committee itself. Brad Smith surprised me due to the fact that he is a freelance photo editor, something I never even thought of as being an option. I also enjoyed Brad’s new goal in life of never having to tuck his shirt in (I agree).

Overview

Overall, today was very exciting but also overwhelming. I’m looking forward to see what Day Two brings...

#NYC #RITPJ #RITPJ2018

A stablehand from Naughtaveel Farms in Conway, New Hampshire, grooms their horse after a carriage competition at the New York State Fair.

Sept 4th, 2015.

#ritpj #ritphoto #naughtaveelfarms #nysfair

Kirsten Welsh of Robert Morris University watches the game continue as she serves a two minute penalty due to tripping. RMU won in a shut-out of 4-0.

Nov 6th, 2015.

#ritpj #ritphoto #rithockey #womenshockey #rmuhockey #welsh

Rochester Institute of Technology's Taylor Thurston, 2, Brooke Stoddart, 34, and Brinna Dochniak, 23, defend against University of Minnisota - Mankato's Elin Johansson, 15, and Hannah Davidson, 17. RIT's Womens Hockey team was able to keep their defense up, winning 2-1.

Oct 2nd, 2015.